Surprise

Last year, candidate Barack Obama zeroed in on a feature of John McCain ‘s health care plan that would have taxed workers’ benefits, branding it history’s largest middle-class tax increase and saying it was too radical a proposition to seriously consider.

Eight months later, President Obama appears ready to roll the same type of tax hike into his ambitious plan to overhaul the U.S. health system — if enough Democrats in Congress are willing to go along.

The ads Obama ran attacking McCain’s health care plan for taxing workers’ benefits were, in my opinion, probably the most devastating of the campaign. If memory serves, Obama’s standing in the polls improved following the ad blitz in which this particular line of attack featured prominently. During this period, which pre-dated news of the financial meltdown and McCain’s controversial reaction to that news, Obama moved ahead of McCain (again I’m going from memory here).

The potency of this line of attack makes me wonder whether Democrats will, in fact, go along with Obama’s plan.